Sonic Superstars goes back to basics with a brand new 2D adventure against Eggman, Fang, and a brand new character. Here is our Sonic Superstars Review.
The game was developed and published by SEGA (EU publishing by Plaion), it was originally released on October 17, 2023, for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox Series X|S. We want to thank Plaion NL for providing us with a key to review the game.
Typical Sonic story with Eggman trying to defeat Sonic and the Emerald Crystals, but this time he gets help from Fang the Hunter and a brand new character Trip who kidnapped a few animals and turned them into bosses. After completing the game you can even unlock an NG+ type mode where you play as a character who has a combination of the character’s powers.
As someone who never played a Sonic game before, this is a blast to play, but it did have some problems for me that other players might not have that are used to the Sonic gameplay. Playing with Sonic was absolutely terrible for some reason and was for sure the hardest character to complete levels and bosses with, but when I switched to Amy I had a much better time. The game just flowed a lot better for me and it did feel like it got easier having a double jump with her available. I just had a super hard time controlling Sonic in fast situations and his special roll just didn’t really work that well for me.
Each character had their own thing they could do, Sonic was faster, Amy could double jump and had a better time hitting enemies with her hammer, Knuckles could glide and climb walls and Tails was able to fly. Of course, the character you picked also kind of determined the speed you would be able to complete the levels, but with Amy, I picked a good middle ground with not being that slow due to the slow glide or fly but still being able to do something that helped me out.
The game is very forgiving with when you die and how far you are set back. There are a few bosses that definitely overstayed their welcome due to some lengthy sections and unlike the main levels, they dont really have a checkpoint, something that also could benefit a few of these longer boss fights. Just in general, the bosses were a massive pain for me with some that I had to retry 10+ times making the game a lot less enjoyable for me than I thought it was going to be, but I still had fun doing them and it did feel very satisfying when I finally did complete them. I honestly could point to being a newbie to Sonic as the main reason I had an issue with the bosses because when I asked others, they didn’t really seem to have that many problems with them.
Visually the game is stunning, each world has so much character to it, from its gimmicks to its settings. I have a hatred for water levels, and so do most people I know, but here, they actually made it kinda bearable with only the boss fights being a bit of a pain. The classic Sonic with the brand new 3D visuals just felt good, it sure looked a lot different than what you might be used to with older 3D graphics, but it does an amazing job transitioning and makes the series feel fresh. I loved the LEGO skins, I know it’s DLC, but it made the characters look kind of fun and stand out and I ended up playing the whole game with the skins, even Eggman had a nice LEGO skin during the boss fights.
Just like most of the Sonic games, the music was great, not as good as others but it still had a great vibe that perfectly represents each world and the type of feel it wants to be. Sadly, none of the music felt like the hits from other games that extremely stand out, but either way, it was nice to listen to while playing.
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